The present invention relates to a bed frame construction and, more particularly, to a bed frame having protective shields that are provided at a number of locations about the bed frame to protect against the potential injury to a person inadvertently encountering an otherwise sharp edge situated at various locations about the bed frame and to the construction of the shields themselves.
There are in use today, bed frames that are used to support a box spring and mattress in order to construct a bed. In the construction of such bed frames, normally the components comprise a pair of side rails and various cross members that interconnect the side rails to make up the support for that box spring and mattress. The common side rail is constructed of an L-shaped steel member and the cross members are also of the same general configuration. Conventionally, the side rails have a vertical plane of the L-shaped angle iron extending upwardly and the horizontal plane extending inwardly to support the box spring. The cross members generally have the vertical plane extending downwardly with the horizontal plane supporting the box spring. In addition, at one of the ends of the side rails there are generally provided end brackets in order to affix a headboard to the bed frame assembly as will hereinafter be referred to as the head of the bed frame while the opposite ends of the bed frame will be referred to as the foot end of the bed frame.
As further component to the bed frame, there are also a number of leg assemblies or supports that extend downwardly from the cross members located at least at each of the four corners of the bed frame such that the bed frame is supported a finite height above the floor.
Accordingly, while the use of L-shaped steel angle iron for the side rails or the cross members results in a very sturdy construction to the bed frame, there is a problem raised in that the steel angle iron members generally have relatively sharp corners or ends and which are normally not rounded off in the manufacturing process. As such, therefore, the overall construction of the bed frame creates a number of locations about the bed frame where there are sharp edges that pose a hazard to the user or to any person walking by or in the close proximity to the bed frame, and that hazard persists even when the bed frame is supporting and therefore somewhat covered by the box spring, mattress and the bedclothes.
With a typical bed frame, therefore, those hazardous locations are generally the four corners of the bed frame where there are various edges or corners that are susceptible to being hit by a person. In particular, at the head end of the side rail, as stated, there are headboard end brackets that are available to affix a headboard to the head end of the bed frame when assembled. At the same locations there are leg assemblies that extend downwardly at the junction of the cross member at the head end of the bed frame and the side rails. Thus, at those locations at the head end of the bed frame, a person can strike the end of the side rail or hit the leg assemble and injury is possible.
Other locations are at the foot end of the bed frame where there is an extension of the L-shaped side rail that projects outwardly rearwardly beyond a junction point where a cross member is affixed to the side rails and where there is another leg assembly affixed to that cross member extending downwardly to contact the floor. Again, at the foot location of the bed frame, injury is possible to a passerby. As yet another location where there is a possibility of harm to a user, the entire length of the side rails have the vertical plane of the L-shaped angle iron extending upwardly and has a relatively sharp edge that can be encountered by a person and cause injury. Finally, the leg assemblies themselves have sharp corners or projections and thus are also locations about the bed frame where an injury to a user is potential.
There have been various attempts at alleviating the problems, however, all of such purported solutions have attacked the hazard in a more or less haphazard manner, that is, there are certain shields that have been affixed to bed frames in various locations that are specifically adapted for use at a particular location or locations. In addition, there have been other attempts to alleviate the difficulties by rearranging certain of the components to relocate the hazardous edges to a more secure location on the bed frame.
For example, in the Roche, U.S. Pat. No. 2,951,252, there is shown, an end cap that is slid on to the end of a side rail to provide some protection to that end. The use of end caps is, however, limited since the protection is localized to only the very ends of the side rails and, obviously, the concept is rather uniquely restricted to side rail ends and the side rail cap of Roche certainly cannot be used as a protective shield in any of the other hazardous locations about the bed frame. Thus, the protection is limited and the concept cannot be extended as a comprehensive solution to the overall problem of having a number of locations about the bed frame where protective shields are also needed. In addition, the use of end caps, while used today, also suffer from the problem that the end caps are not securely affixed onto the side rail ends and the end cap can easily slide off of the end of the side rail and leave the side rail ends unprotected. If unprotected, there is the aforedescribed risk of injury as well as the possibility of the bed clothes being tom by being caught on the edge of a side rail during use or damage to the box spring or mattress during installation of the bed itself.
Aside from the Roche construction, there is an inherent difficulty with the use of end caps that slip on to the end of the L-shaped side rails. With most bed frame constructions, there is a cross rail located near the ends of the side rails and where there is also located a leg assembly so that there is a leg assembly generally at the four corners of the bed frame. Thus, with a slide-on end cap, the end cap can only go a relatively short distance when it encounters the cross rail and cannot slide past that obstruction. Accordingly, while the very end of the side rail can have a end cap to provide protection, there is still the hazard of the cross rail where it connects to the side rail and, of course, the hazardous location of the leg assembly itself at that same location. With a slide on end cap, obviously, there is no way the concept of a slide on end cap can be used other than to protect the end of the side rail and certainly not the end of the cross rail and the leg assembly.
In the Feld, U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,853, there is another protective device and which is comprised of an impact absorbing material that is affixed to the L-shaped side rails to protect against an inadvertent striking of such side rail, however, again the solution is limited to the protection of the side rail and thus is not a comprehensive solution and the Feld concept does not extend readily to other locations about the bed frame where there are, as previously explained, sharp edges that can cause injury. In effect, Feld considered the top edge of the side rail to be the potentially, most likely portion of the side rail to cause injury and, thus, concentrated efforts to provide a protective cushion for that particular location and did not attempt to shield other possible locations about the bed frame that could cause injuries to a person if encountered.
With respect to protection against striking leg assemblies which, as explained, are also locations on the bed frame that can have potentially hazardous sharp surfaces, it can be noted that one solution is to move the leg assemblies inwardly toward the center of the bed and thus away from a location that could be easily struck by a person. Typical of such leg locations is shown in Spitz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,718 where the leg assemblies are in a more protective location, however, moving the leg assembly to an inner position of the bed frame compromises the overall strength of the bed assembly and weakens the bed construction. Accordingly, again, while Spitz may provide one solution to one particular type of potential injury causing hazard, the solution raises other problems and the solution is limited to the hazard associated with the leg assembly and is only a limited protection to but one of the potential hazardous locations about the bed frame.
As can be seen, therefore, the prior attempts to alleviate the hazardous conditions of the typical bed frame have been directed to individual solutions concentrated on specific locations about the bed frame and there is no one overall concept that can be put to use to provide a comprehensive means of protection against all of the hazardous locations about the bed frame. Instead, each of the attempted solutions is localized in its application and cannot be used as a protective shield at other, dissimilar locations. In short, prior attempts at safety devices and shields have utilized micro concepts and not macro concepts.
Now, in accordance with the present invention, there is a comprehensive bed frame and devices to attach thereto to the bed frame that protect the persons from striking sharp edges at various locations about the bed frame, and, in one embodiment, the present invention is applicable to cover all of the potential hazardous locations with a plastic shield so as to provide overall comprehensive protection for the bed frame. As will be seen, in the present disclosed embodiments, there is but a head bracket that is preferably still unprotected so as to make that bracket available for use in attaching a headboard, however, the present invention can readily be used to contain the edges of that bracket, particularly, if the user does not intend to utilize a headboard. Thus, instead of responding to the problem on a location by location basis, the present invention encompasses various locations about the bed frame where the hazardous locations are known to exist.
In the construction of the present invention, there is provided shields that can be affixed to the potentially hazardous locations about the bed frame to cover the metal surfaces to provide safety to the user. In one embodiment there is provided a leg guard that serves to provide independent protection to the leg assemble and which can be retrofitted to a bed frame by an owner without special tools or hardware. As will be seen, and as explained with respect to the deficiencies of the slip on conventional end caps, it is not possible to provide adequate protection to cover all of the offending surfaces at the corners of the bed frame with such devices as there is a limit to the distance such end caps can be slipped on to the end of the side rails. Thus, as one embodiment of the present invention there is provided an end shield that is affixed to the corner of the bed frame from the side or laterally affixed to the bed frame. Thus, the shields of the present invention can be affixed to the bed frame to fully engulf the ends of the side rails as well as the leg assembly, or part thereof. As noted, by corners and ends of the side rails, it is intended to cover the front ends of the bed frame where there are headboard end brackets as well as the foot ends of the bed frame where only the ends of the side rails project outwardly.
To be able to affix the present end shields to the bed frame corners, use is made of living hinges that are used to join two housings having free ends. The housings can rotate with respect to each other about the living hinge and but can be opened up to encircle the hazardous edges or corners and then closed about those edges to confine the hazardous conditions within the interior of the housings. The free ends are then joined together in a unique manner to affix the particular shield to the bed frame in a fairly permanent manner.
Thus, through the use of shields having living hinges, considerable more of the overall locations of the bed frame can be covered with plastic and thus, the overall bed frame continues to have all of the strength associated with the use of steel members but also has enhanced safety for the user as well as a better looking product by the plastic exterior shields.
The use of living hinges are well known for various purposes and are basically a narrowing of a plastic wall that allows that wall to flex or bend, thus taking on the characteristics of a hinge. With the present invention, however, while the use of living hinges is the preferred means of affixing the housings together so that the free ends can be manipulated to enclose the particular hazardous surfaces, it is within the scope of the present invention and the use of the housings to enclose those surfaces to use other types of hinges or to affix the housings together by means of a snap fit where the periphery of the housings can be readily affixed together to contain those surfaces.
With the present invention, various embodiments can be constructed. As indicated, there can be a shield that encloses and protect the head ends of side rails where the end bracket is located as well as the foot ends where the side rail extends outwardly. In addition, there is a shield that can cover and protect the leg assemblies adjacent the head ends and foot ends of the side rails as well as an embodiment that is elongated and can cover and protect the entire length of the side rails so that the overall bed frame has all of its exterior potentially hazardous locations encased in a plastic material. As a still furth embodiment, the head and foot end shields can act in conjunction with a leg assembly guard as an alternate means of protecting the user from injury from encountering the leg assembly. A further embodiment provides an end cap shield that covers and protects the end of a side rail while also protecting the end of a cross member affixed to a side rail at that location.
As a further feature, since the shields of the present invention are permanently affixed to the bed frame in one location or another, it is possible to add indicia on the shield, such as a web site or a phone number and that indicia will stay with the bed frame and be a substantially permanent part thereof and will lead the user back to the source of the bed frame for repeat sales.
Other features of the present bed frame shields will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.